The present invention relates to improvements in the methods and components used for assembling the legs of a table, including patio tables having wrought iron leg assemblies.
It is known in the art to employ bolts, screws or similar fasteners to connect together a plurality of table leg members and/or cross members to form a table leg assembly. Depending on the size and weight of the leg assembly, varying numbers and sizes of such bolts or fasteners would be used in an attempt to the provide strength and stability to the leg assembly and ultimately to the table supported thereby. Several disadvantages, aside from increased costs and assembly time, are associated with using a large number of bolts to construct a table leg assembly. If such bolts are tightened excessively or in an improper sequence, one or more of the leg members of the assembly may become uneven with respect to the others resulting in a table that is uneven or worse yet, unstable. Furthermore, such prior art fastening devices for leg assemblies do not generally allow the height of individual leg members to be adjusted relative to each other in order to provide a level table top when the table is placed on an uneven surface. For such purpose, table is placed on an uneven surface. For such purpose, prior art leg assemblies usually include an adjusting means disposed directly on the bottom ends of the individual leg members.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for assembling the legs of tables which overcome the deficiencies in the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for assembling table legs which reduces the number of fasteners needed to construct the leg assembly, as well as the time required for doing so.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for assembling table legs whereby the fastening components allow the height of the individual leg members to be adjusted to produce a level table top, even when the leg assembly is placed on an uneven surface.